annie 🇵🇸's Reviews > The Ballad of Never After

3.75 stars

I'm so happy right now that I chose to read this trilogy after the last book was published because I wouldn't have survived with this clusterfuck ending. I'm gonna be truly honest, I thought I'd love this book more than Book 1, but I actually like that one more.

❝Prince of Hearts understood heartbreak because his heart had broken over and over as he looked for love.❞

• After Evangeline figured out that Jacks manipulated her and tricked her into being the key, she hated him. But she found herself trapped by him again when she discovered that Apollo is in a suspended state, and only Jacks could fix that. Worse, someone put the infamous ARCHER'S CURSE on Apollo, and now he has to hunt Evangeline and kill her.

❝Jacks no longer felt like her enemy, he felt like her home.❞

Evangeline — I really liked her character development! She isn't that naive girl from Book 1, and her determination and decision-making were pretty good. She's quite fierce in this book. I loved how she controlled herself in front of Jacks. The ending scenes where she desperately wanted to lift Jacks' curse made me feel really bad for her. She deserves sm better!

Jacks — I love Jacks so much 😭 ah he's literally so precious to me rn. I love him as an individual because even if he's cold and mean towards others and doesn't care, he has a vulnerable side, and he feels so hard that he's left heartbroken in the end. He can't even kiss anyone, and his one true love left him. He wants love so badly, but he couldn't get it, and his past really made me sad 🥹 He's actually amazing and I really hope his past is explained clearly in the last book!

❝There is nothing of equal value to me.❞

I swear this quote is so soothing???!!! I READ IT SO MANY TIMES BECAUSE THISSSS ISSSSS BEAUTIFUL. 💕🥺

❝It hurts, Jacks.❞
❝I know, love. I’m going to take you somewhere safe.❞

❝I do not want you dead, and I’ll kill anyone who tries.❞

Relationship — This book had a lot of nice scenes with Jacks always saving Evangeline. But even if I was feeling really happy in that moment, it was kinda ruined when everything falls back to track – as in Jacks telling her she's just a tool for him. He can't let her die because he wants her to open the arch – and I'd stop feeling happy! It was hot-cold throughout the whole book. The ending was angsty, and I love Jacks for what he did. I could never forget how he so selflessly chose to save Eva with the arch stones instead of going back to the time with Donatella, as he initially wanted to – his main motive. The scenes in the Hollow were quite cute, and I wished for more intimate scenes between them. Jacks wanted her, but at the same time, he feared that he'll kill her, so he tried everything to distance himself, and I felt sad about how Eva was overcoming that! AND AAHHHHHH JACKS BEING THE ARCHER IN EVA'S FAVOURITE FAIRYTALE "The Ballad of Archer & the Fox" 🥲

This book was quite repetitive with the past scenes, and Donatella and Jacks' tragedy were mentioned 5 times. A lot of things were repeated again and again. The start was amazing, the middle part was slow and didn't hold much aside from mentions of the past and world-building, and the ending was so good. I thought Apollo was like the second love interest, having at least a better role, but he had a more poor role than the side characters 💀 even Luc outshined him! Speaking of him, he was being such a bitch in the start and still wants to bite Eva!!! why tf! Thank God he turned better, but how did Apollo get the powers to remove memories, and fuck him for stealing each and every memory of Evangeline. That was so not needed 😭 The girl was finally ready to confess her feelings for Jacks.

Anyways, Chaos is too pretty, and I love him. I'm happy he bit Eva, and we get the cutest, heart-touching, jaw-dropping dialogue from Jacks ✋🏻 and he's not going to Donatella! Yay. And whoever that dragon is with whom Lala fell in love should either be revealed or give us Chaos/Lala. I wonder if Aurora Valor meant another brother and not Chaos when she said Lala doesn't deserve her brother.


• Once Upon A Broken Heart – 4 stars
• A Curse For True Love – 3 stars